Thomas James Sheppard

87 - Edwardsville

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Dad and Grampie, Tom Sheppard on October 7, 2008 at the Harbourview Veteran’s Facility, Sydney Mines, N.S.

Tom formerly resided in Edwardsville, N.S. and Stratford, PEI. He was born in Trenton, N.S. on May 13, 1921, the son of the late Fred and Harriet

(O’Leary) Sheppard.

Tom was raised in Cardigan PEI and was a respected boxer in Charlottetown known affectionately as “Tom the Bomber Sheppard”. He joined the RCN at the age of 19. Tom’s WWII experience ended when his ship the Rajputana was torpedoed off Iceland. Tom was posted to the Pt. Edward Naval Base in charge of security. After the war he was employed by DND as a firefighter at the naval base until he retired as chief in 1985.

Tom owned and operated Sheppard’s Dairy with his wife, Florence while raising 9 children. He loved fishing, beekeeping, gardening, hunting and celtic music. He was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus and the Royal Canadian Legion Westside Br. 126.

Tom is survived by six daughters and three sons; Sharon (Brian) Brummond, Christmas Island, Karen (Dougie) Lewis, Bedford, Brennan (Linda), Howie Center, Brian (Cora), Edwardsville, Rebecca (Keith) Hawkins, Howie Center, Gerald (Kathy), Howie Center, Anita (Bernie) MacMillan, Christmas Island, Leona (Gary) Marshall, Lower Sackville, Patricia Sheppard, Halifax and a sister, Joyce (John) Fitzpatrick, PEI. He is also survived by twenty-two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Grampie had a special place in his heart for grandson Zachary.

Tom was predeceased by his first wife , the former Florence Campbell in 1988 and by second wife, the former Margaret King in 2005, and brothers; Sterling, Francis, Gerald, Heath, as well as sisters, Phyllis MacQueen and Marjorie .

Visitation will be held at T.W. Curry Parkview Chapel on Friday, October 10, 2008 from 2-4 & 7-9 with funeral mass to be celebrated on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in Our Lady of Fatima Church with Fr. Will MacPherson officiating. Interment to follow in Resurrection Cemetery.

Donations may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

Thanks are extended from the family to the kind staff and residents of Harbourview Facility of Sydney Mines and to Fr. JJ MacDonald and Dr. Wawer.

On line condolences may be forwarded to the family at : [email protected] or www.mem.com

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ON OCTOBER 7th 2008, TOM , PASSED AWAY....

WE KNEW LITTLE THAT MORNING,

GOD WAS GOING TO CALL YOUR NAME,

IN LIFE WE LOVED YOU DEARLY,

IN DEATH WE DO THE SAME.

IT BROKE OUR HEARTS TO LOSE YOU,

YOU DID NOT GO ALONE,

FOR PART OF US WENT WITH YOU

THE DAY GOD CALLED YOU HOME.

YOU LEFT US BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES,

YOUR LOVE IS STILL OUR GUIDE,

AND THOUGH WE CANNOT SEE YOU,

YOU ARE ALWAYS AT OUR SIDE.

OUR FAMILY CHAIN IS BROKEN,

AND NOTHING SEEMS THE SAME,

BUT AS GOD CALLS US ONE BY ONE,

THE CHAIN WILL LINK AGAIN.

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I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength / stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with eaci? other.

Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”

“Gone where?”

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “Them, she is gone!” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: Here she comes!”

And that is dying.

Anonymous

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DAD”S STORY

HMS Rajputana (F 35)

Armed Merchant Cruiser

Navy:The Royal Navy

Type: Armed Merchant Cruiser

Class:

Pennant: F35

Built by: Harland & Wolff Ltd. (Greenock, Scotland)

Ordered

Laid down

Launched: 6 Aug, 1925

Commissioned:16 Dee, 1939

Lost:13 Apr, 1941

Loss position: 64.50N, 27.25W (See a map)

History: On 4 September, 1939 the passenger ship Rajputana of the P. & 0. Steam Navigation Co Ltd, London was requisitioned by the Admiralty. She was converted to an armed merchant cruiser and commissioned as such on 16 December 1939.

Displacement: 16644 BRT

Armament: 8x 152mm, 2x 76mm

Speed: 17 knots

Career:

December, 39 - April, 40: America and West Indies Station

May 40: Bermuda Convoy Escort Force

June, 40 - April, 41: Bermuda and Halifax Escort Force

April, 41: North Atlantic Escort Force

HMS Rajputana (Capt. Frederick Henry Taylor, DSC, (retired), RN) was torpedoed and sunk on 13 April, 1941 by the German submarine U-108 west of Reykjavik, Iceland in position 64°50N, 27°25’W. 283 survivors were picked up by the British destroyer HMS Legion and landed at

Reykjavik. 40 of her crew went down with the ship.

Commanding Officer:

Capt. Frederick Henry Taylor, DSC, (retired), RN

2 October, 1939 - 13 April, 1941

Hit by U-boat

Sunk on 13 Apr, 1941 by U-108 (Scholtz).

Return to the Allied Warships section

As a young man I joined the volunteer Army as a cook in PEI. Pauline’s brother was the main cook. Later I signed up for the Navy and was trained in Halifax as a fireman to fire up the oil furnaces on the ships. I was assigned to the Rajaputana which was a Royal Navy ship that had been converted from a cruise liner to a naval ship with fixed guns.

There were 12 Canadians assigned to the ship and some of them had trained with me in Halifax.

We met the convoy of about 40 ships as it lined up outside Halifax Harbour.

I think we were leading the way, I don’t recall any other ship ahead of us. There were some merchant ships in the convoy that had guns on them. There might have been some smaller naval ships in the group.

We turned our convoy over to British ships off Iceland.

After midnight on the day we were torpedoed we were told to flash up all the fires full. I figured something was going on. I went up on deck and I saw that we were going in a large circle, that was the way ships tried to evade a sub. I heard some one say that we were being followed for a day. I worked until 4:00 AM with a petty officer, a stoker and I was one of two firemen to take care of the oil firing.

I washed up and had a drink and went to my hammock to sleep.

That morning of April 13,1941 ,Easter Sunday around 6:00 am I woke to the hammock swinging as if we had just hit something solid and got thrown to the floor. (This is the cause of my back pain to this day.) It appeared that three torpedoes had been aimed at us , one missed the bow, one missed the stern and one hit the engine room and killed everyone.

I went up to the upper deck and was immediately ordered to go and help get anyone out of the engine room . We did get 2 guys up from the area they walked up on their own but I never saw them again, in the life boats or in Reykjavik. So I don’t know if they survived the sinking or not.

Water was already flooding down there so we went on deck. I did not think that another torpedo would come so I saw some mates going to their bunks for their clothes so I headed to mine. A fella loaned me his flashlight when he finished finding his things ,so I was able to get my sack with some warm clothes and by luck when I reached to look for my purse I put my hand right on it. I went back on deck and stood behind a life boat to get dressed. I was putting on as much as possible , when I noticed number 5 gunner had shot out quite a distance, perhaps half a mile and exploded, This usually meant that it had hit a target.

I could also see something coming through the water. The churning in the sea was another torpedo coming at us, straight to where I was standing.

I ran toward mid ship, it hit and split the lifeboat that I had been standing by, in two. The ship was tilting I went to the life boats and I almost got in one first where there were other Canadians but decided to go to the one that I had been assigned to.

The life boat was being lowered and Commander Cross was already in the stern so I got in . The boat was packed with 16 to 18 sailors as we got away. I was the only Canadian.

The seas were high. We started to row away from the ship because we were afraid of being pulled down as the ship sank. I was rowing so strongly that the commander told me stand down a little so I wouldn’t break the oar even though I was alone on my oar and 2 others were on the other one. I guess I was rowing so hard to get us away from the sinking ship.

We tried to pick up survivors but the one guy we found was already dead. I think he must have jumped off the ship and I think the cork life jacket might have broken his neck when he hit the water.

We had a gunner up front on the Lewis gun and we were on the lookout for the sub to surface to look for us . We didn’t think they would help, They would ,just shoot us out of the water. Because the seas were so rough I think they couldn’t surface so that probably saved us.

This was mid morning and by mid afternoon we were picked up by a British ship, the HMS Legion.

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